Pune: Ranjitsinh Disale is making a buzz on the internet since Thursday. A teacher from a small settlement in Solapur district of Maharashtra is the one who bagged the coveted $1 million Global Teacher Prize.
Here is the moment when Ranjitsinh Disale was named the winner of the Global Teacher Prize on Thursday.
Disale, who aspired to be an engineer, started training as a teacher. When he reached at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in 2009, it was a run-down building, crammed between cattle hut and a storeroom. Most of the girls were from tribal groups where school attendance could sometimes be as low as two per cent.
For those that did make it to school, the prospectus was not in their main language (Kannada), leaving many incapable to learn at all. Disale was gritty to turn this around, moving to the village and going to countless efforts to learn the local language.
HERE CAME THE QR CODES
The 32-year-old then not only translated the textbooks into his pupils’ mother tongue but also fixed them with unique QR codes to give students access to poems, video lectures and assignments. By examining their likenesses, he would change the content and activities in the QR coded textbooks to make a personalised learning experience for every student. Adding to this, he promoted the QR Coded Textbooks with an immersive reader and Flipgrid tools (video discussion platform) to help girls with special needs.
There are now no teenage marriages there and girls have maintained 100 per cent attendance at the school. The school was also awarded the best school in the district with 85 per cent of his students accomplishing ‘A’ grades in exams.
Disale didn’t stop there, he then went on to make nothing short of a revolution in the use of QR coded textbooks around the country. His school was the first in the state of Maharashtra to launch them and after giving a proposal and pilot scheme, the State Ministry in 2017 declared that they would present QR coded textbooks across the state for all grades 1 to 12.
Subsequently, India’s Ministry of Education asked NCERT (National Council of Education Research and Training) to study the influence of QR-coded textbooks and how this can be scaled up. Two years back, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar declared that all NCERT textbooks would have embedded QR codes.
PEACE ARMY
Disale apart from teaching has been working on a unique project since 2017. To cultivate friendship between students in many countries such as India and Pakistan, he has been conducting online video sessions with students from both countries. He also wants to ensure that each year, thousands of students are recruited into a ‘Peace Army’.
ONE FOR THE REAL CHANGEMAKERS
Disale who believes that teachers are the real changemakers declared that he will be sharing 50 per cent of his prize money with his other finalists to support their incredible work. His noble gesture means the other nine finalists will get over $55,000 each, making history as the first winner to share his prize money.
Meanwhile, Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday acknowledged Disale for this feat. His Twitter post read, "Convey my greetings and felicitations to Shri Ranjitsinh Disale, a teacher from ZP school in Paritewadi, Solapur on being chosen for the coveted 1 million dollars Global Teacher Prize 2020, which is awarded by the London-based Varkey Foundation.”
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also congratulated Ranjitsinh Disale. The CMO said, "Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray called Ranjitsinh Disale and congratulated him. During the conversation, Disale informed CM that he will use his 7 crores prize money to increase education quality through the teacher innovation fund.”
